Road Map to

Community-led
MEAL

A guide to design and planning for Community-Led

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning

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 1. Who is this Guide for and How to Use It

This guide is a supportive tool for participants, who successfully completed the course:
Road Map to CoLMEAL (virtual or in-person) or participants of the CoLMEAL ABC course to
further help guide the design of and planning for the integration of Community-led
development and MEAL into their programming.

This guide is not meant to be a stand-alone tool for the implementation of Community-led
monitoring, evaluation and learning as it provides a simplified overview of community-led
development and implementation without a deeper understanding of CoLMEAL principles
and their application to practice.

This guide is also not an ideal resource serving as the first introduction to community-led
MEAL as there are more suitable resources providing the igniting introduction

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 2. Table of Contents
Roadmap to CoLMEAL................................................................................................................... 0

1. Who is this Guide for and How to Use It .............................................................................. 1

3. Additional Resources on Community-led Programming .................................................... 3

4. Community Engagement Theory .......................................................................................... 4

4.1 Defining Key Terms............................................................................................................ 5

4.2 Why Community Engagement in MEAL ........................................................................... 6

4.3 Fundamental Principles of Community Engagement ..................................................... 8

4.4 Minimum Quality Standards for Community Engagement ............................................ 9

4.5 Benefits, Key Considerations and Enabling Conditions for Community-led MEAL
(CoLMEAL) ................................................................................................................................... 9

4.6 Enabling Conditions for CoLMEAL .................................................................................. 12

5. Planning for Community-Led MEAL.................................................................................... 14

5.1 CoLMEAL Design Principles ............................................................................................. 15

5.2 Modes of CoLMEAL Implementation or Integration ..................................................... 16

5.3 Developing your Roadmap to CoLMEAL ........................................................................ 17

5.4 Staffing for CoLMEAL ....................................................................................................... 25

5.5 Budgeting for CoLMEAL .................................................................................................. 29

6. Salanga .................................................................................................................................. 31

This guide was published by Salanga in December 2022 .

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 3. Additional Resources on Community-led
Programming
The following is a list of some of the key resources that we utilize and share during our
session.

Salanga is a thought-leader and innovating practitioner of Community-Led Monitoring,

Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (CoLMEAL) as part of the global movement of
community-led programming and as so, we created the following supportive resources that
can help organization to effectively localize their programming.

Webinars on CoLMEAL:

1. What is CoLMEAL?

2. Is your organization ready for CoLMEAL?

Blog posts on CoLMEAL:

1. CoLMEAL: What is it and should I use it?

2. Why can CoLMEAL help development interventions?

3. CoLMEAL: Key benefits and considerations

4. Getting your organization and colleagues on board

5. Is my organization ready for CoLMEAL?

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 4. Community Engagement Theory

Key questions
 Who is the community that you work with? How do you work with them?
 Why engage community in MEAL?
 What needs to adjust in your current MEAL practices so that the community can
lead?

Key takeaway points

 CoLMEAL builds on an organization’s approach to transformational community
engagement;
 There are many benefits to CoLMEAL, but also important considerations needed to
mitigate risks;
 Mindset shifts about MEAL may be needed.

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 4.1 Defining Key Terms
The starting point for any development intervention is to first understand who the
community is. The definition of community varies according to context. An organizations or
program’s approach to community engagement and transformation is an essential
foundation for Community-led Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning.

As a starting point, Salanga encourages organizations to reflect on who the community is

that they are working with and how they engage with these communities. These
definitions from UNICEF1 are the basis for this discussion.

Community:
Community Engagement:
The minimum social unit that is locally relevant
A foundational action for working with
just above the level of the household
traditional, community, civil society,
(neighbourhood, canton, precinct, parish,
government, and opinion groups and leaders;
town, village). It can also include non-
and expanding collective or group roles in
geographically centred social networks of
addressing the issues that affect their lives.
interaction, interchange, and interdependency.
Community engagement empowers social
Such networks may have direct local inputs
groups and social networks, builds upon local
into the transfer of health, educational, social,
strengths and capacities, and improves local
informational, economic, cultural, and political
participation, ownership, adaptation, and
resources (diaspora networks, rural-urban
communication. Through community
networks, peer-group or social networks,
engagement principles and strategies, all
kinship networks). Communities are not
stakeholders gain access to processes for
monolithic, and often include unequal
assessing, analysing, planning, leading,
distributions of authority, access, and power
implementing, monitoring, and evaluating
over decision-making and resources (by
actions, programmes and policies that will
gender, sociocultural background, physical and
promote survival, development, protection
mental ability, ethnicity, language, and
and participation.
religion/faith).

Community-led Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning then builds on these

theories of transformational engagement to provide an approach to MEAL that aims to
capacitate key community members/change agents to continually monitor, analyze,
share, and reflect on progress against their community development plans based on

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outcomes and indicators/metrics they define to take action to achieve their
goals/vision.

CoLMEAL actively shifts the focus of primary accountability for MEAL from donors and
organizations, who hold the resources and power, to those who the development
interventions are aiming to affect the most. Salanga’s approach to CoLMEAL goes even
further to ensure that the voices of those who are typically marginalized are elevated
through this process.

CoLMEAL works from an acknowledgement that communities already have the power and
ability to define their visions for development, take action to realize their dreams and
monitor, reflect and learn from their endeavours.

4.2 Why Community Engagement in MEAL

Being committed to strong community engagement is paramount to implement CoLMEAL
successfully. Organizations have evolved to include good community engagement in their
approaches, however for some reason, these principles are not applied to MEAL practices.

Salanga uses excerpts like the one below to interrogate mindsets on the importance of
community engagement as a foundation for CoLMEAL:

The role of community engagement is to [recognize and enhance] the power of

communities, community leaders and community organizations to play a role in improving
the equity and impact of the government, development, and humanitarian initiatives that
affect them. The minimum quality standards provide guidance and support in achieving
the following aims:

■ Communities are meaningful stakeholders in two-way, transparent and open flows of

information. Mechanisms are in place to sustain two-way communication.

■ Communities know and claim their rights. They have meaningful ownership and
leadership roles in the deliberations, decision-making, design, implementation, and
measurement of actions that affect them.

■ Community diversity is reflected in participatory processes without discrimination,

including gender, ability, age, faith, race, ability, and ethnicity.

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■ Community-based power inequalities are addressed, not reinforced, through
community

engagement actions.

■ Communities have mechanisms to register concerns and provide continuous

feedback on the quality, availability, accessibility, and acceptability of services. This
feedback is listened to, and appropriate responses are taken.

■ Programmes, projects, and policies are adapted to and aligned with the needs,
priorities, values and cultures of local populations.

■ Programmes, projects, and policies are adapted to and aligned with the needs,
priorities, and policies of national, subnational and local governments.

■ The quality of research, evaluation and monitoring of community engagement is

tied to community structures, processes and ownership so that communities have
influence over research documenting the issues that impact them.1

In keeping with these intentions of community engagement [or community-led

development], Salanga’s sees the goals of CoLMEAL as the following:

To give the power of information to communities by enabling them to track their own progress against
performance indicators they themselves choose and design, to analyze, use and disseminate results,
reflect and learn, as well as to adapt their vision of change in their plans (e.g. community project plans,
school plans, and community development plans).

To generate MEAL findings and recommendations that feed into project improvement cycles, and
influence policy priorities and decision-making processes of relevant community development
stakeholders. (e.g. local government bodies; institutional actors, like school officials; community-based
organizations, like Parent and Teacher Associations, project teams, and other actors).

To hold duty bearers and other organizations accountable for their decisions, actions and outcomes,
and to hold them responsible for the provision of quality programs and services.

To promote a culture of critical inquiry, reflection, and learning that informs evidence-based decisions
among the communities that will continue beyond the program scope and timeline.

To support building self-esteem and meaningful public participation of those who are among the most
vulnerable and marginalized within the targeted communities.

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Reflection questions
Based on the excerpts:

• Why should community be engaged in MEAL?

• What needs to adjust in your current MEAL practices so that the community can
lead?

4.3 Fundamental Principles of Community Engagement

CoLMEAL should adhere to fundamental principles for community engagement outlined in
key international frameworks that guide development and humanitarian assistance that
are summarized in the table below.

Rights-based approach
Aims to expand equity, empowers people to claim their rights and enables duty-bearers to
fulfill their obligations. It brings a strong legal and policy lens to development work.

Community-based approach
Promotes meaningful participation of women, girls, boys and men in processes that
enables them to voice their needs and decide on their own future. It aims to reduce
dependency on external intervention and reinforces the power, dignity and self-esteem of
the people involved.

Accountability
That acknowledges that development and humanitarian actors have an accountability to
the governments and populations that programs are implemented in, not just the other
way round.

Gender mainstreaming
Is the minimum that should be considered in all programs, including gendered analysis, the
inclusion of gender perspectives, and ensuring the centrality of gender equality. The aim
should be towards gender-transformative programming.

Interests of the child

As called out in Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child highlights that the
best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.

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Do No Harm
The costs of community engagement can come at a cost, whether physical, economic,
political or social. All CE should ensure that it does not reinforce inequitable power
structures and practices.

For more details on any of these principles, please refer to page 7 of UNICEF’s Minimum
Standards for Community Engagement, 2020

4.4 Minimum Quality Standards for Community Engagement

Minimum quality standards for community engagement are well detailed in UNICEF’s
Minimum Standards for Community Engagement (2020) resource.

Salanga has developed a self-assessment tool that helps organizations to reflect on their
current practice against these standards. Organizational teams are encouraged to reflect
together and brainstorm strategies to address key gaps.

A sample of the tool can be found at [insert link here].

4.5 Benefits, Key Considerations and Enabling Conditions for

Community-led MEAL (CoLMEAL)
In our experience, CoLMEAL requires commitment to applying community engagement/
community-led development approaches to what are typically extractive processes that
predominantly serve the accountability needs of donors and organizations. Staff of donor
and NGOs, especially senior leadership need to have a strong vision and understanding of
the rationale for CoLMEAL which will help staff navigate the complexities during its
implementation. We have found that there are three general domains of questions that are
helpful to have responses to when building up momentum for CoLMEAL.

BENEFITS
Keeps information in the hands of those whose lives are directly affected
CoLMEAL provides space for key community stakeholders to lead and engage in MEAL
processes, not as objects of observation or respondents, but as subjects and active drivers in
MEAL design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination. Data is not collected by “outsiders”
based on highly technical indicators that are rarely presented back to communities. It is the
community that chooses what is important to measure, share and act on. Experience shows
that the self-esteem, confidence, and skills of individuals are strengthened as they engage in
the capacity building process. The CoLMEAL groups learn skills in evaluative thinking and
adaptive management that can be applied to any issue they prioritize with stakeholders.

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Communities own the information collected about them and are inspired and have the
confidence to implement community-led initiatives independently.

Supports good governance and accountability principles

A strong stakeholder analysis is a foundational step to planning for CoLMEAL. Key community
stakeholders become more aware of who holds power, who has vested interests in the project
and to intentionally engage those that are marginalized and vulnerable, such as women or
minorities, who may not have their voices heard in the broader community. Marginalized and
vulnerable community members could influence the design and delivery of projects through
regular reviews of CoLMEAL findings and proposing recommendations. Partnerships between
state actors and other community stakeholders are strengthened through CoLMEAL. Local
accountability mechanisms are also integral to the CoLMEAL process.

Promotes evidence-based policy development and decision-making

Government entities can gain context specific data that is presented by those who live in the
communities they govern. It can fill the void of information for policy implementation and local
decision-making that exists in many contexts. CoLMEAL groups can also use the information to
advocate for improved well-being with their local officials. CoLMEAL makes information
accessible so people at all levels can make informed decisions that affect their own lives and
those in the community, whether it is an adolescent/youth, caregiver, educator, health care
provider, or local government official.

Is cost-effective in achieving sustainable impact

CoLMEAL leverages existing community resources and motivation rather than hiring staff and
enumerators who are often external to the context. If the aim of MEAL is for the community to
make sense of data and take action, CoLMEAL shortcuts the process and goes further than
traditional MEAL practice where communities often do not understand the indicators, how they
are measured or what the results mean. Applying CoLMEAL can expedite behavior change,
spark local advocacy, and mobilize communities to lead social change initiatives, which are
increasingly already a part of program approaches. Similar to feminist MEAL approaches,
CoLMEAL can be seen as the missing component to really ground sustainable development
approaches.

CONSIDERATIONS
While there are many positive benefits in both the process and outcomes in relation to
Community-Led MEAL, there are also some important considerations for organizations to
understand, mitigate and plan for in relation this approach.

Requires a new way of thinking about quality of data

Prevalent concepts of data quality prioritize accuracy and reliability. Significant amounts of
resources can be spent trying to ensure data has minimal margins of error without considering
the cost-benefit in terms of use, especially by those most affected by programs. CoLMEAL aims

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to build upon and strengthen data collection systems that are already in place within
communities, thus a key concern for CoLMEAL is whether community members have the
“proper” skills, knowledge, and systems to effectively collect and analyze data from projects.
Often, local community efforts are deemed not “good enough” for donor reporting, and the
data quality from communities that have a low level of literacy and numeracy may also be
questioned. Contexts , where CoLMEAL has been successfully piloted, show that the MEAL tools
for data collection and analysis can be designed for varying levels of literacy and numeracy.
Moreover, ensuring communities actually learn and use the data from MEAL can lead to an
improvement and investment from communities in data quality – since data validation is
inherent in the CoLMEAL approach. If designed well- together with the project MEAL system –
CoLMEAL data can provide data that is acceptable for the project, organizational and donors’
accountability. However, it requires all involved to change their mindset about who the data is
for and how they can use it to catalyze sustainable impact.

Requires a different way of thinking about the aggregation of data

Current MEAL philosophy and practice tend to value comparative quantitative measurements
(numbers and percentages) and require a certain type of methodological and statistical rigour
that is often defined by technical specialists. With CoLMEAL, the data collected tends to be very
specific to the community level and the tools and questions designed are unique to that
community. CoLMEAL provides rich detailed information that reflects the complexity and
intersectionality of communities and can be highly valuable at the community level. There is a
common perception that this creates tension with the needs of organizations and donors who
wish to aggregate the data and compare data across multiple contexts in order to effectively
report on the impact and showcase results for better branding, funding and sustainability. This
requires a different approach to making sense of the data at a country or program level and to
compare across contexts.

Requires time, budget and strong buy-in from community members and
implementing organizations
The time to set up a robust CoLMEAL system (which includes local CoLMEAL groups and initial
community engagement) can take 10-12 months and may require additional staff members
dedicated to managing and guiding the process at the local level. This setup during the first
year of the project can also conflict with other project start-up activities, especially traditional
MEAL practices. This can put added strain on local staff and key community stakeholders if not
planned for in advance and needs to be appropriately budgeted to ensure its success. In the
current donor environment, organizations will likely need to conduct traditional MEAL activities
alongside CoLMEAL setup. In this case, it is essential to include a CoLMEAL officer who is
responsible for keeping the steps moving in order to ensure the community is able to sustain
CoLMEAL within the timeframe of the project life span. Ideally, as donors and organizations

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become more committed to the principles of CoLMEAL, it can become the foundation of the
project MEAL system with the organization only collecting additional data as needed.

Can reinforce existing power dynamics if not facilitated well

Without a strong understanding of the existing power dynamics in the community, there can be
a tendency for community stakeholders to select those who are chosen to oversee and lead the
CoLMEAL process from the same traditional powerholders, community elites, empowered
leaders and opinion-makers, rather than those who are from marginalized and vulnerable
groups. This is why Salanga incorporates stakeholder power analysis and gender analysis into
the CoLMEAL planning process and also puts in place practices and supports so that more
vulnerable community members are effectively able to engage.

4.6 Enabling Conditions for CoLMEAL

We have learned that the key elements below need to be place before moving
forward with CoLMEAL:
• Buy-in and support
o from donors and senior leadership and staff of organizations and
implementing partners. Collectively, there needs to be a willingness to fully
test and learn from the CoLMEAL initiative. This is the foundation for ensure
there are funds, time, patience, enthusiasm and trust for the process.
o From community key actors. Community duty-bearers and change agents
need to be clear about the importance and value of MEAL data. Participation
and engagement becomes propelled by the community as the information
fuels decisions that directly affect their lives.
• Commitment to community engagement
o CoLMEAL is a principle-based approach to MEAL that believes it is possible
for the processes of monitoring, evaluation and learning to contribute to the
transformations that organizations hope to effect in the communities they
are working in. CoLMEAL is a natural next step to strong community
engagement approaches and integrated into projects that have a strong
focus on sustainability.
• Learning culture and flexible mindset
The implementation of CoLMEAL is iterative as it includes ongoing dialogue about the
common partnership between organizations and communities and what the common

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goals are, the actions to achieve them and the measures to evidence its success. This
includes a willingness to take risks and to develop risk mitigation strategies that enables
safe conduct of CoLMEAL steps at the

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 5. Planning for Community-Led MEAL

Key questions
• What principles guide your application of CoLMEAL
• What is the process for capacity building staff, partners and community for
CoLMEAL?
• What staffing do you need for CoLMEAL?
• What budget is needed to implement CoLMEAL?

Key takeaway points

• CoLMEAL is a principle driven approach to MEAL
• The focus of CoLMEAL is in capacity building community partners and change
agents
• CoLMEAL needs to be properly staffed and resourced to be able to be implemented
successfully

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 5.1 CoLMEAL Design Principles
CoLMEAL is a principle-driven approach to MEAL. These same principles can be applied to
planning for and designing your CoLMEAL approach.

Salanga has used the following principles as it has worked with organizations and donors
to implement CoLMEAL.

A. Start from where your organization, local partners and donors are in terms of
CoLMEAL. As shared earlier, buy-in and support from staff in your organization, local
partners and donors is a key enabling factor to ensure successful CoLMEAL. As with any
change process, assessing where key stakeholders are in terms of their understanding and
commitment to CoLMEAL and the principles that would lead to effective implementation is
important. It will ensure that the change is not forced or that the use of CoLMEAL is not
simply a checkbox exercise. The conclusion of this type of assessment may mean that
CoLMEAL may not be a fit at a particular time for a particular project. Applying CoLMEAL in
conditions that do not support it could potentially do harm.

B. Create space for piloting and testing where needed. When others in the organization,
local partners and/or donors are not convinced about CoLMEAL, see how CoLMEAL
principles and/or certain steps can be integrated or tested on a smaller scale within a
project. This can make the adaptation towards CoLMEAL more feasible; help to build
stakeholder confidence in the benefits of CoLMEAL; and help others in the organization,
local partners and donors learn how to mitigate any risks in a manageable way.

C. Ensure resourcing for community plans. CoLMEAL works best if it is linked to

resources that can support the community action plans resulting from CoLMEAL, such as
the provision of community-action grants. This may not need to come from the
organization or donor. There may be community and/or local government resources that
can be accessed. Ensuring that communities have access to resources to implement their
plans in a timely fashion builds relationship, trust and confidence for community groups.

D. Prioritize learning. CoLMEAL involves organizational and transformative change. It is

important to ensure safe spaces to pilot, test and learn from CoLMEAL. Ensuring time and
resources are allocated for learning at the community stakeholders’ pace is essential for
CoLMEAL. Documentation of the learning around implementing CoLMEAL can be helpful
towards this end.

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 5.2 Modes of CoLMEAL Implementation or Integration

As organizations, donors and communities may be at different points along their CoLMEAL
journey, Salanga has observed several modes to date for the application of CoLMEAL by
organizations. This list is not comprehensive and is very dependent on conditions within
organizations, the relationships they have with local partners, donors and the local context.

Scenario 1. CoLMEAL fully integrated: CoLMEAL principles are building on a strong

community engagement approach that is the basis for the entire initiative (project,
platform, etc.) from the beginning. This requires the strongest commitment towards the
CoLMEAL principles, buy-in from funders, implementers and also flexibility in funding.
Usually, we see these types of initiatives implemented by grassroots-based organizations
or partners, where the CoLMEAL process naturally evolves from previous successful and
participatory initiatives.

In this scenario, CoLMEAL can be designed to meet both community learning and
accountability needs as well as organizational and donor learning and accountability.
CoLMEAL is critical to the overall MEAL of the project. This may require that at the
project level, the nature of indicators shifts focus from traditional status indicators, such as
“% of children who achieve educational outcomes” to ones that allow for communities to
define success in their own terms, such as “Proportion of target communities where
educational outcomes have improved since the last reporting period”. The MEAL processes
underlying this latter indicator allow for communities to determine what “education
outcomes” look like and how they will measure it, while the organization and donor can still
be confident that the desired outcomes for the project are achieved.

Scenario 2. CoLMEAL as a component/stream/module within a larger project: CoLMEAL

principles and processes are integrated directly from the design phase but focus only
within certain communities or contribute to certain results within a project where other
components may have less community engagement in their approach. This requires a clear
division of areas of responsibilities as well as a clear strategy outlining the relationship
between traditional MEAL, CoLMEAL and the implementation of other project activities.
This is a common approach with traditional funders, who may need to warm to the idea of
giving away some of the control over resources and indicators.

In this scenario, CoLMEAL is designed as a pilot and is often run in parallel to traditional
MEAL processes with linkages at key milestones. CoLMEAL does not form a critical part
of the traditional MEAL for the project. CoLMEAL is implemented as distinct project

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activities and indicators to capture the results from CoLMEAL can be included in a project
logframe at output, outcome and goal levels. Some examples include:

• Proportion of target community groups that successfully complete the CoLMEAL

training cycle.
• Proportion of target communities where community stakeholders/groups have the
capacity to lead their own development planning, monitoring, and evaluation.
• Proportion of target community groups that successfully implement their action
plans.

3. CoLMEAL as add-on to an existing initiative (e.g., project, program): In many cases,

CoLMEAL may not be part of the initial design. Depending on the availability and flexibility
of funding, integrating CoLMEAL after the project has started may look like either of the
two scenarios described above. However, this approach requires intense and very sensitive
involvement of the entire project staff and all other key stakeholders to ensure the proper
buy-in and building up on existing achievements.

This scenario requires that the project already be using a strong community engagement
and empowerment approach, especially if the remaining time for the project or
engagement with the community is less than 2 years. Often, the focus for CoLMEAL is
based only on one indicator or issue or intervention for a project and is often linked to local
level advocacy efforts. For example, a group of adolescents reflecting on sexual and
reproductive health rights (SRHR) may identify the desire to improve health services. In this
case, they may use various participatory methods, such as graphic novels and storytelling
to raise awareness of the challenges youth face in accessing needed SRHR services and
what can be improved. Often this would involve assessing the current state of services at
the local health center according to criteria, usually laid out in government policy or
international standards, and monitoring on how they improve over time. The results are
often shared with duty-bearers and decision-makers in order to obtain the support and
resources needed to improve the situation.

5.3 Developing your Roadmap to CoLMEAL

Developing your Roadmap to CoLMEAL Through piloting CoLMEAL in several projects,
Salanga has continuing to learn and iterate on this CoLMEAL results model. If you would
like to hear how we discuss this model, you can view the video here.

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This model begins at the point of engagement where project staff begin working with the
community level structures, community volunteers and change agents.

There are 9 steps that we have identified to help develop the CoLMEAL framework and
processes that can continue on beyond any external support. The first 3 steps are
foundational work that needs to be in place before CoLMEAL can be attempted, while the
CoLMEAL specific steps begin from step 4 onwards.

Step 1: CoLMEAL structures tapped/organized in a community

The first step is to first understand the existing community structures that CoLMEAL can be
integrated into. This step is about understanding how communities are moving in terms of
local development and how they manage it and how CoLMEAL can build on existing
capacities.

There is often an entity that plays a role of a community management committee. This is
the lowest level of government in communities that is responsible for development
decision-making. It can be formal or informal structures that are already existing and often
involves local government representatives or informal cultural or religious leaders. If
projects are already doing good development, they may have already mapped this out. In
this case, this step would be about working with those leaders to then share with them
what CoLMEAL is about and how it complements the joint projects the organization and
community will work on together. We highly advise against setting up new structures
because we want things to be sustainable. Even from the beginning we want to reinforce
that development work should be owned and led by the community and that any
organization or project external to the community is simply coming alongside to support
the community’s vision for development. This case could be considered if there is
government mandate for a community group, but it does not yet exist in the particular
community the organization/project is working in, such as community-based child
protection committees, which most countries have outlined in policy.

We propose that the project teams work with these community management committees
to identify who would be then the community groups or active members in the community
who would participate in CoLMEAL committees. These are often active groups or member
of the community who are interested in the specified issue, who may already be part of
existing community groups, such as Parent Teacher associations, or village health
volunteers, or Child Protection Committee members.

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Steps 2 and 3 are often done with Community Management Committees together with
support from CoLMEAL committee members. While it is the CoLMEAL committee members
who actively lead and facilitate others in the community to move through step four to nine.

Step 2: Problems/barriers identified, analyzed and prioritized by community

If there isn't a local development plan in place that is aligned with the project goals, you
may need to work with the Community Management Committee to facilitate participatory
exercises to develop a vision, and identify strengths and any problems and barriers related
to that specific issue. We recommend that this process of consultation reach broadly
through the all groups in the community that would be affected and especially ensure that
the voices of the most vulnerable or marginalized are included. The community
committees may need some ideas of how to ensure inclusive participation and some
simple frameworks and key guiding questions around different domains to explore in
terms of social and behaviour change or system approaches to ensure that the analysis
helps them think deeply about the issue. For this step, Salanga has compiled a toolkit of
some of the most commonly used tools that can be adapted for low literacy contexts.

Step 3: Community Theory of Change and Community Action Plan developed by

community

In this step, the project team would build the capacity of the community management
committee, together with the CoLMEAL committee, to use the information from step 2 to
develop or reaffirm the theory of change or theory of action that would then lead to
specific community action plans that the community is committing to. If a community level
theory of change and/or plans exist, this step would then be about ensuring that the
broader community is aware of these plans and refreshing and reaffirming the logical flow
of what is existing.

A community-led theory of change often does not look like typical logic models. For
example, often in logframes, we move from providing training to suddenly a change in
higher level outcomes like increased access to a service. It is often difficult to include in
logic models or log frames, direct steps like changes in knowledge, changes in attitudes
and, and specific changes in behavior and practice, which would lead to impact at a higher
level. For example, while someone may know about the effects of HIV&AIDS, they may not
believe that their behaviours and practice make them susceptible to HIV&AIDS, and even if
they do, they may not have the adequate environmental factors and support to stop risky
behaviour. So in summary, we try to delink log frame language intentionally in this
step to make sure that the communities have a freedom to think about change in

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the ways that they are they are used to. We also contextually appropriate analogies to
help even people with lower literacy identify key steps of change.

These foundational steps may need to be done if the project is just beginning and/or the
organization is working in a new community. CoLMEAL itself begins at step four, as it is
necessary that the community be clear about the outcomes of their local theory of change.

Step 4: Indicators developed by the community

In this step, MEAL concepts are introduced to the community in easy to understand ways. It
walks the community through how to measure the changes they hope to see. For each
level of change that they have identified, the CoLMEAL committee is capacitated to
determine the signs and signals of when they have achieved the desired change. Story
based, contextually adapted analogies are used to help community members understand
basic monitoring theory, what is an indicator and how to develop one. We use simple
formulas to help them identify good indicators that can measure the change for the people
that should be experiencing the change. Everything is boiled down to basics, which can be
adapted to different contexts. They concepts are presented in ways that are simple enough
that people with low literacy can understand and contribute, while being robust enough to
provide meaningful information for decision-making and action at the community level. In
some cases, this step may help community volunteers better understand the indicators
and measurements that they have already been working with.

For example, community health volunteers are often involved in measuring height and
weight of babies and young children, but they are not always aware of how this calculates
to stunting, wasting and underweight measures and what the results mean and what
action to take. When these connections are made, the results can be catalytic for
development at individual, household and community levels.

Step 5: Monitoring map and plan developed by community

This step is about understanding how information moves in their community. In this step,
the CoLMEAL committee is capacitated to develop a monitoring map, which is a type of
systems map to see how, for example, if we're focusing on education, how does
information move from the child or student to within the school system? Do they report to
a prefect? How do students interact with teachers? How do the teachers interact with the
parents? How does information flow to the other structures that would support education?
And more importantly, how does information flow back to parents and especially students
themselves. The monitoring map also identifies the tools that they are that are already in

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place to measure, in our example, educational outcomes and the indicators that may
already be in use.

In this step, we also bring all the information together. A simple table is used to align the
outcomes with its relevant indicators and relevant tools and identify who can provide the
information for the indicator and how often the information needs to be collected to
inform ongoing decision-making and reflection. For education and health sector, often
most tools already exist and are in use. In some cases, there may not be an existing tool
that is existing.

Step 6: Data collection tools developed, data gathered and collected by the
community

In this step, the monitoring plan is then used to adjust existing data collection tools or
develop new ones. This often looks very different from typical evaluations for projects,
where there are often many indicators that are measured at the same time. For CoLMEAL,
the community committees use existing data, such as school registers or health centre
reports that are already in place. Some additional tools may be needed to help them
analyze that data they receive according to the indicators that they have defined. Some of
these existing data collection tools can be refined through this process.

Some new tools may need to be developed. In some cases, this may require doing surveys,
but these are often for a few indicators and so the workload is not so burdensome. For
surveys that need to measure across a large population, Salanga identified best practice
methods to train CoLMEAL committees to do basic random sampling in a simple way so
that they can understand why random sampling is important and how to do it.

For example, if there is a list of the target population, we teach them how to randomly
select from that list. We also provide basic guidance on how to randomly sample if there is
no list but there are permanent locations, e.g. houses in a village, as well as if the
population is hard to find or numerate, for example, vulnerable populations, such as
children out of school. We use simple language to introduce these concepts of random
sampling and probability sampling.

At this point, project staff may be needed to follow up and support any troubleshooting on
the data collection. Now, this again would look very different when typical project
evaluations or measurements. In typical MEAL processes, external enumerators are often
hired for a specific time period, such as two weeks, traveling to different communities in
the area and collecting the data all at once. However, when it comes to CoLMEAL, it is
important to remember that people are often volunteers for this process or it is in addition

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to their existing roles; they have other jobs, they have other responsibilities with their
family, and may only be able to dedicate two or three hours even per week if even. So the
timeline for data collection would span over the course of several months. This would all be
taken into consideration in the monitoring plan, which as mentioned previously would
define how often they would need that information for decision-making.

Step 7: Data analyzed, interpreted and disseminated by the community

Once they have collected the information, the CoLMEAL committee is supported to analyze
the data. Sometimes analysis can be built into the data collection tools. Sometimes they are
facilitated to create a separate an analytical tool, which is like a tabulation table.

This is where we have been over and over amazed that even people who are semi-literate
are able to do complex index analysis with simple tabulation forms. These tables are
designed to respond to quality criteria defined in the indicators in step 4. As the CoLMEAL
members have been part of the development of the indicators, they are able to give proper
interpretation and share the information to the community. When it comes to
dissemination, we also give them some skills and how to present the data in pictorial and
simple ways that are meaningful to community so that even if the majority of the
population is non-literate, they are able to see from a very visual way, what the results are
and make sense of them.

Step 8: Theory of Change and Community Action Plan revisions

After the data has been collected, analyzed and reflected on, step 8 facilitates the CoLMEAL
committee to circle back with the Community Management Committee to review the
Theory of Change and Action plans. As things change, we expect that they will adapt their
plans. It is an opportunity to reflect and see whether they have achieved what they set out
to do, see what assumptions may have arisen from measuring the indicators, and
determine the best way forward.

Step 9: Benefits and costs of CoLMEAL mapped out by community

Salanga has not yet been able to test this step. This step aims to reflect at the community,
project, and organizational level the value and comparative cost of CoLMEAL. It provides an
opportunity after at least one round of the process has been completed, to reflect on the
whole process of CoLMEAL to see how communities have benefited and compare costs of
CoLMEAL with typical MEAL approaches.

CoLMEAL: An iterative, action learning approach

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It is also important to note that for each step in this process, an iterative approach is used.
At each step, the capacity of targeted community groups is built to ensure they have the
knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to complete each step. The community then makes
a plan to complete each step. Sometimes, the project staff are needed to observed and
coach the community members to give them the confidence to facilitate the process and
perhaps troubleshoot any issues and keep conversations on track. After the community
has facilitated that step, there is a time of reflection with those trained after which changes
may be made the process or tools.

The changes

It is important to remember that doing CoLMEAL for the sake of CoLMEAL is not the end on
its own. We found it is good to identified common results that CoLMEAL is leading to and
how these integrate into the broader project approach. Remember that CoLMEAL is not the
first step of community engagement. It is really about ensuring that:

• the leadership of community duty bearers and change agents are

strengthened in ways that are inclusive and gender sensitive, or gender
transformative;

• community ownership for the MEAL processes, as well as for their development
in general, is improved;

• there is improved access and understanding of data related to prioritized issues

by community members; and

• the voice and agency of community members, especially those often

marginalized, are increased.

These may be some of the lower level or immediate results that are already captured in the
project logic model or log frame, if there is a strong community and empowerment
approach in place.

As communities are able to understand, define and monitor their own data, they will be
able to use it to advocate and inform policy changes and improved resource allocations.
They can also use it to mobilize others around their agenda and promote and reinforce
behavior change as well as individual, household as well as community resilience. Salanga
has some anecdotal evidence for each of these results and is looking to conduct research
to evidence this further.

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The outcomes

The intermediate results will then contribute to greater social and sustainable social
change in the long term, for example improved health and education outcomes for
children. It is our belief that by using a CoLMEAL approach, communities will achieve
sustainable results more quickly.

5.4 Staffing for CoLMEAL

The CoLMEAL approach is appreciative by nature. This same principle can be applied to
planning and designing for CoLMEAL. When Salanga works with organizations to design
their CoLMEAL approach, we begin by assessing what existing staffing structures, capacities
and competencies already exist to support CoLMEAL. In our experience, we advise people
to not think about CoLMEAL as a project management activity as is often done with typical
(even participatory) Monitoring and Evaluation.

As you start up CoLMEAL, it may need to be seen as an organizational change initiative that
requires a dedicated budget and equally importantly dedicated people at various levels.

From our experience, this is what we would recommend for staffing considerations to
ensure the successful implementation of CoLMEAL:

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At the headquarters level:

Role Characteristics & Change contribution Sourced from % time required

existing staff within
organization or
new hire?
CoLMEAL Someone who is passionate about community engagement and CoLMEAL. Existing. The higher Varies depending
Enthusiasts This person will be the driver for the CoLMEAL initiative and integration into up in leadership, the on starting point of
organization approach or project. Ideally, this person will have influence over more successful the organization
resources and budget that could be allocated to CoLMEAL. CoLMEAL integration
will be
CoLMEAL Someone who understands and believes in CoLMEAL design principles and Existing 75% during start up
Designer(s) has a vision for the process as well as has responsibility for influencing the for 10-12 months;
organizational approach and/or project designs. 15-25%
This person will lead the overall design of the CoLMEAL approach. subsequently for
coaching
CoLMEAL Someone skilled in observation, synthesizing learning, and communications. Existing or new 15-20% for each
Learning This person will follow the implementation of CoLMEAL from the bird-eye depending on project CoLMEAL is
Coordinator view and will be hungry to pick up key learning outcomes and disseminate structure and budget implemented in
them to the right audience (e.g. PR team, Project Design Team; Management,
Donors, Donor liaisons etc.). This person will also make sure that the learning
process is budgeted for, planned for and actually put in practice.
Financial Someone who is part of the finance team, who is also a believer in CoLMEAL. Existing. 5-20%; higher
advisor This person will be able to bridge donor compliance requirements and the during the planning
freedom of implementation and changes, especially if the Community Action and
Grants are involved. Ideally, this person will have the ability and authority to implementation of
think creatively and lobby for shifts in process where possible while Community Action
maintaining accountability and managing risk. We highly recommend that the Grants
identified finance person(s) attend some CoLMEAL orientation or training, so
they understand what it is and what the potential financial implications can
be.

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At the Project/Implementing Partner level:

Role Characteristics & Change contribution Source from % time required

existing staff within
an organization or
new hire?
CoLMEAL This person should be highly bought into and believe in Community-Led Can be existing, but 100%, especially for
Focal Point Development/MEAL. It does not necessarily need to be someone who is given it will be full- the first 6-12
skilled in MEAL. time for a period of months
This person will be the key MEAL staff at the project level who keeps time, it is feasible for
CoLMEAL on track. They are the main trainer of trainers and documenters. it to be a new hire
Even small-scale CoLMEAL initiatives will need this person. We recommend
that it be separate from the person responsible for overall Monitoring and
Evaluation for the initiative if CoLMEAL is not fully integrated.

CoLMEAL Someone who has implemented CoLMEAL previously and can help to External Consultant During CoLMEAL
Trainer effectively adapt CoLMEAL processes and training materials real-time. This start-up and as
(Optional) role may help your team make the adoption of CoLMEAL as smooth and as needed during
successful as possible and also can link you into the community of peer project life-time
CoLMEAL Practitioners. While this is not necessary, it may be highly valued
by the implementation team that they are not left alone in this innovative
process that requires very specific mindset mostly by the implementation
team. The scale of involvement of this trainer depends on the scale and
need of the organization/project and CoLMEAL focal point and team.

Community A collection of people who have authority and responsibility for Existing within As needed during
Action Grants programming outcomes, operations and finance in the project and/or organization as well implementation of
Review Panel community. as from community Community Action
(if duty-bearers and Grants
implementing decision-makers.
Community
Action Grants)

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Financial Someone who is part of the finance team at the project level who Existing. 10-25%, higher
support understands and believes in the principles of CoLMEAL. when Community
person(s) Ideally, this person is the Finance Director who has the authority and Action grants are
strategic understanding of how things can flex to accommodate CoLMEAL designed and
while maintaining accountability and managing risk within the context and implemented
to donors. It is the local finance team who needs to lead in defining the
financial processes in disbursing Community Action Grants and related
financial accountability mechanisms. They will need detailed understanding
of who, what, where how that will come from the CoLMEAL design. We
highly recommend that the identified finance person(s) attend some
CoLMEAL orientation or training, so they understand what it is and what the
potential financial implications can be.

Community People who are well connected to the community, who can mobilize the Existing within At least 10-25%, but
facilitators communities and who will bring people in power to the discussion table. organization or with it will be depend on
These facilitators should span across all sectors that the local partners, ideally the stage and pace
organization/project may be working in. from a grass-roots of CoLMEAL
organizations implementation
CoLMEAL These are often groups or change agents already active in the community, Existing members According to their
Committee such as school management committees, parent-teacher associations, (not paid or availability and
Members community health volunteers, WASH committee members, Child Protection stipended by the agreed schedule
Committee members. These are backbones of the CoLMEAL process project)
implementation. These are the people who will be capacitated by the
organization, sometimes together with local partners, to facilitate and
maintain the CoLMEAL process. It is recommended that stipends for these
volunteers be avoided, unless already provided through government
structures, to ensure sustainability; though per diems for trainings that
would impact working hours should be considered. The CoLMEAL process
timeline will need to be adapted to ensure that the workload for these
volunteers is kept at a manageable level.

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 5.5 Budgeting for CoLMEAL
As with any major change management initiative, resources for CoLMEAL needed to be
adequately planned for and allocated. From our experience, these are some key
considerations when budgeting for CoLMEAL implementation.

Staffing Costs:

These will be the majority of costs for CoLMEAL implementation. We estimate it is at least
75% of the budget when implementing CoLMEAL.

Based on the staffing description above, you may be able to design your CoLMEAL staff
structure from headquarters to the implementing partner. You will need to use the
knowledge of the local custom in terms of reimbursement of CoLMEAL Community
Coordinators and context of your initiative to estimate / calculate the costs for them.
Remember, that the CoLMEAL Focal Point at your Country Office, Implementing Partner or
both will need to be a person with a significant of time dedicated to the CoLMEAL process.
We would highly suggest that it should be a person (or people) with full-time on CoLMEAL
for at least the start up period (usually 6-10 months) to make this a success. We have
observed if it is combined with other roles, the quality and/or progress in CoLMEAL
becomes compromised. This may vary for grassroots organizations.

Also consider that the CoLMEAL support for communities can increase in terms of time and
staff needed to support it as you increase the number of communities you implement
CoLMEAL.

CoLMEAL Activity Implementation Costs:

Think about CoLMEAL process as you would think about any other project activities, some
specific activities that may require clear budget lines include:

1. Conducting power, gender and context analysis as a part of the proper CoLMEAL
design
2. Engagement with community leaders and influencers
3. Providing continuous training (2-3 two-hour sessions in a month for 6-10 months
at least) in-job training for the Community CoLMEAL Coordinators (including
venue, refreshment, transportation, child care etc. if applicable). Ideally, with good
community engagement, venues can be sourced within the communities. This will
minimize transportation costs for participants, though it may increase
transportation costs for project staff. Timing and schedule of the trainings should

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 accommodate those of the community members, though it may mean more
frequent trips from project staff.
4. Visit (or at least virtually connect with) each community group at least once year,
ideally once a quarter to check on a progress
5. Translation or localization into local languages and context is essential, so ensuring
that there is budget for local translators will be needed. This will also free up staff
to focus on facilitation rather than translation.
6. Optional costs for gathering and aggregating CoLMEAL Results (e.g. collecting data
from community groups).

NOTE: these costs can increase with the number of communities and areas in that you
implement CoLMEAL in.

Learning-related and Documentation Costs:

• Design of the learning plan

• Regular learning sessions across all stakeholders
• Dissemination sessions to share the knowledge that is being generated
• Story telling materials (e.g., case studies, brochures, videos, social media content
etc. most significant change etc.)
• Optional Unintentional outcome collection and documentation (e.g., outcome
harvesting process etc.).
• Equipment (e.g., camera, smart phones tec.) to collect evidence.

Optional, but Recommended Community Action Grants:

Potentially one action grant for each eligible (or selected) community or community group
in amounts for example $200 - $1,000 USD, depending on your context and CoLMEAL
Design.

Likely these may be labeled by government funders as a flow-through funds (or equivalent
term in the language of your funder) and these funds may have different mode of
calculating overhead etc.) You also will need to plan for the accountability and financial
processes and costs of funds disbursement/ security etc.

Reflection & application

Based on the information and your context and reflecting on your CoLMEAL
implementation modality, proposed CoLMEAL Roadmap, and staffing structure for
CoLMEAL: identify the costs associated with implementing CoLMEAL for your organization/
project.

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 6. Salanga

6.1 Who we Are

Salanga is a high-impact, collaborative consultancy company providing tools, training, and technology
services in monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL) to organizations globally. We
believe in inclusive and community-led approaches which underpins all the work we do with our
partners. We bring a tech-savvy side with rich experience in data collection, analysis, and database
design. Our multi-talented and diverse team is comprised of top experts in international development,
feminist and community-led methods, data collection and analysis, gender-equality and information
technology. We live and work around the world and have two main offices: in Ottawa, Canada and
Prague, Czech Republic (www.salanga.org).

6.2 What we Do
We make monitoring, evaluation, accountability & learning meaningful. Our staff have supported
more than 200+ organizations in improving their MEAL approaches, systems and technology. We
offer innovative MEAL services and a world-class supporting team to meet the needs of different
organization. We support clients in different aspects of MEAL, from project design to program
evaluation. These services include:

1. MEAL Tools & Processes: We help organizations plan, collect, analyze, and learn from useful, timely
and accurate, gender-transformative data. We collaboratively craft useful quantitative and
qualitative indicators and design a range of inclusive and meaningful data collection tools.
2. Community-Led & Feminist Approaches We coach organizations in applying community-led and
feminist tools and approaches and support community members in designing, directing and
learning from their own program interventions.
3. Training & Coaching: We boost knowledge, skills and practices through technical coaching and
training. We coach on Logic Models, Performance Measurement Frameworks, participatory and
inclusive data collection, analysis storage and technology. We provide engaging in-person and self-
paced learning courses.
4. Technology: We design data collection, management and learning software so organizations can
track and amplify their positive impact. We assess data collection and data management needs and
create long-term strategies for the roll-out of new systems, with a focus on buy-in and ownership.

6.3 Why we Do It

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Monitoring and evaluation can be extractive, expensive, time-consuming, and makes a limited
difference to local communities. We want to change that! We believe deeply in the power of
communities to drive their own change. We are reimagining the purpose and practice of MEAL to
advance gender equality, inclusion and community-driven change.

6.4 Who we Collaborate with

Our partners and clients range from small, inspiring non-profits to large, robust organizations with
thousands of staff and wide geographic coverage. We work with a broad range of governmental,
NGO and private sector clients, including Global Affairs Canada, the African Development Bank,
Nutrition International, ADRA Canada, and Youth Challenge International. We coach communities
and project teams on a variety of projects focused on nutrition and food security, health, gender-
equality and inclusion, education, economic empowerment, water and sanitation, and climate
change mitigation. We support programs in 35+ countries in Asia, Africa, North America and Europe.

6.5 Our Community-Led Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability &

Learning (CoLMEAL) Services
We are a thought-leader and innovating practitioner of Community-Led Monitoring, Evaluation,
Accountability and Learning (CoLMEAL) as part of the global movement of community-led
development. Our services in community-led MEAL include:

• Assessing & Updating Organizational Systems & Structures: We assess organizational

readiness to implement CoLMEAL & identify and update systems, structures and processes
to effectively implement CoLMEAL, including budgeting and crafting of roles &
responsibilities for staff, local teams and community members. We build motivation among
staff and community teams to sustain participation & catalyze ownership. We facilitate
reflective processes to ground and mainstream CoLMEAL into an organization’s operations
and culture.
• Providing Tailored Training & Coaching in CoLMEAL: We co-create a CoLMEAL capacity
building plans & train staff and targeted community groups to enable them to undertake
and sustain community-led processes. We are currently implementing a training program for
NGO and local partner staff to facilitate CoLMEAL in Sudan, Myanmar, Kenya, Uganda,
Philippines, and Cambodia funded by Global Affairs Canada and we are rolling out CoLMEAL
training for various organizations across Europe. We are also developing a self-directed
CoLMEAL e-learning course for a broader audience.
• Providing Useful CoLMEAL Tools: We provide the tools and traction for carrying out
community-led situation analysis, project design, data collection, analysis, shared learning
and reporting. We have developed, revised and testing resources and tools that link to each
step in the CoLMEAL process.
• Fostering Learning: We share our experience and learning through networks, Communities
of Practice and free Webinars. Check out our resources here!

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